demanded a race-by-race contract at $1 million per Grand Prix, though others suggested that this was a marketing ploy between Senna and Ron Dennis to keep sponsors on edge and interested. Although the Ford-Cosworth V8 was lighter than the Renault V10, the power-to weight ratio of the Renault was greater than the Ford. However, the MP4/8 was competitive enough to achieve some remarkable successes. Even though rival Alain Prost was in the superior Williams FW15C, Senna's skill enabled him to lead the championship until after Canada, by winning 3 of the first 6 races, which consisted of his 2nd victory in Brazil, his 6th Monaco Grand Prix victory and one of his greatest drives in the rain-soaked 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington Park in England. Later in the season, the Frenchman asserted the dominance of his Williams to take the lead for good, while Senna fell off pace during the second half of the schedule and dropped to third place. While Prost clinched the championship with two races to spare, Senna went on to win the last two races in Japan and Australia. The Brazilian had five wins in total, and finished second in the Drivers' Championship to Alain Prost, whilst McLaren finished runners up to Williams in the Constructors' Championship. The car scored 84 points during the season, 73 of which came from Senna, for an average of 2.63 per start. While Senna took the championship battle to the last few rounds, Michael Andretti had only a few points scoring finishes, including one 3rd place in his final race at Monza. Some factors were outside Andretti's control; with a restriction on the amount of testing teams were permitted in 1993, he never tested a Formula One car in the wet and a string of collisions meant that he only completed three laps in his first three races. Andretti also never came to grips with highly technical aspects such as active suspension and traction control, two "gizmos" not found in the simpler CART. Lastly, Andretti continued to reside in the United States, commuting to F1 races and test sessions. This also caused him to miss several test days. By mutual agreement, Andretti was released from his contract after the Italian Grand Prix where he scored his only podium for the team. To date () this remains the last podium finish achieved by an American driver in Formula One. At